Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Chensiyuan/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0
THE LATEST OBJECT of maritime contention between Taiwan and China has been an abandoned maritime freighter that is currently near the Yehliu Geopark.
The freighter, the Yu Zhou Qi Hang, was abandoned earlier this month because of Typhoon Kong-rey. The vessel set out from Keelung Port at 7:57 AM on October 29th, but later lost power three hours later and stalled 2.4 kilometers from Cape Yehliu.
The Taiwanese Coast Guard subsequently assisted the 17 crew members to evacuate their vessel. A 100-tonne patrol vessel evacuated the crew members by 10 PM on October 29th.
It was initially somewhat unclear what had happened, with some early reports suggesting that the vessel’s captain had abandoned the vessel. Nevertheless, subsequent reports indicated that the crew had decided to abandon ship after setting out from Keelung Port and encountered issues because of the typhoon. The boat has since run aground.
Since the vessel was abandoned, there have been concerns about ecological damage from oil on the ship. The ship was transporting 247 tonnes of heavy oil, 37 tonnes of diesel, and 6,280 liters of lubricating oil. Tugboats dispatched had to turn back due to the ocean conditions. At risk from pollution are nearby fishing harbors such as Dongao, Guikong, and Yehliu, and the Kuosheng nuclear power plant.
The Chinese government has since framed the matter as only occurring due to the unwillingness of the Taiwanese government to allow the ship to return to port, claiming that the crew had made this request after setting out. The Taiwanese government has stated that no such request was made.
In particular, the Chinese government likely wants to avoid the optics of a Chinese vessel running aground during a typhoon and potentially causing environmental damage, with the Taiwanese government rescuing the crew members. Rather, even if the incident shows a case of the Taiwanese government acting to help Chinese sailors in need of assistance, China would prefer to frame the incident as one of hostility by Taiwan toward China.
Photo credit: Balon Greyjoy/WikiCommons/CC0
As part of China’s grey-zone tactics, often involving fishing vessels or for sand-dredging intruding in Taiwan’s territorial waters, China has sought to create the perception that Taiwan harasses Chinese vessels on a regular basis. This has stepped up since February, following an incident of a small Chinese fishing boat intruding in Kinmen territorial waters. When the boat refused to submit to a Taiwanese Coast Guard inspection and tried to flee, it collided with a Taiwanese Coast Guard vessel. Two Chinese fishermen were found without vital signs after the collision, though the Taiwanese Coast Guard did not immediately disclose that the deaths were due to a collision.
The Chinese government later sought to depict the incident as one of many involving harassment of Chinese fishing vessels by the Taiwanese Coast Guard. The Taiwanese Coast Guard has since stated that it will improve transparency with its operations, ordering body cameras and integrating civilian volunteers into patrols, seeing as it inadvertently ceded the narrative to China by not immediately disclosing the cause of the two Chinese deaths.
That being said, maritime cooperation between Taiwan and China still occurs, even if Chinese authorities still seek to politicize incidents as part of grey-zone tactics directed at Taiwan. The rescue operation for the seventeen sailors aboard the Yu Zhou Qi Hang is one case in point.
Similarly, In August, the Taiwanese Coast Guard participated in a rescue operation for a Chinese fisherman who fell overboard on October 10th. This began after the Taiwanese Coast Guard was notified by the Chinese Coast Guard of the missing fishermen. The search continued from October 10th to October 13th, with the Taiwanese Coast Guard continuing to search even after the Chinese Coast Guard called off its own search. Even so, Chinese military exercises were announced shortly after the incident as a response to Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te’s National Day speech.
It may be in Taiwan’s interest to play up such incidents of maritime cooperation as a means of dialing back cross-strait tensions, then. At the same time, the Chinese government is expected to look for incidents to amplify tensions whenever possible.